A father and son sports collectors’ team from Santa Barbara, Calif., won the bidding for the iconic Kirk Gibson items in SCP Auctions’ October/November auction which closed early Sunday morning.
Chad and Doug Dreier of the Dreier Group paid $1.19 million for the five items, which included Gibson’s home run bat from Game 1 of the 1988 World Series ($575,912.40) and his game-worn jersey ($303,277.20), his batting helmet ($153,388.80), NL Most Valuable Player Award ($110,293.20) and World Series trophy ($45,578.40).
“We are thrilled to keep this amazing collection of baseball history in Southern California,” Chad Dreier said.
Chad Dreier is a construction executive and a life-long avid sports fan. He has turned his passion into The Dreier Collection, one of America’s top private collections of sports memorabilia and American popular culture.
He oversees acquisitions, exhibits and planning. Located in Santa Barbara, the Dreier collection is often referred to as “The Smithsonian of the West”.
The final bid for the bat marks the second highest amount paid for a game-used bat, behind only Babe Ruth’s signed bat used to slam the first home run in Yankee Stadium that SCP sold in 2004 for $1.265 million. In addition, this marks the greatest amount paid for a game-worn helmet and player World Series trophy.
“SCP Auctions is very proud to have been a part of one of the most historic auctions in the history of sports memorabilia,” said SCP President David Kohler.
Proceeds from the sale of the World Series trophy and MVP award will benefit the Kirk Gibson Foundation to continue his support of Michigan State University athletic programs and to help fund his partial scholarship programs at Clarkston (Mich.) High School and Waterford (Mich.) High School, in honor of his parents, who were educators at those schools.
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